Venetian blind



March 1951 L. J. ZNlDARSlC VENETIAN BLIND Filed April 11, 1950 22 M T IiINVENTOR LOUIS JQSEPH ZN IDARSIC IZH JMCWWW ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 27,1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- VENETIAN BLIND Louis J. Znidarsic,Euclid, Ohio.

' Application. April, 11, 1950,, Serial No. 155,263

' 8 Claims... (01. 164L173).

This invention relates to improvements in Venetian blinds generally madeup of a top tilt bar, a bottom drop bar, a ladder like webbing, in-

cluding cross strips, secured between the bars to ple, practical,economical and neat appearing quick detachable means for adjustablysecuring: the-webs and elevator cords to: the drop bar, so"

that thewebs, slats, cords and drop bar maybe all, or separately,removed for cleaning, repairing;

painting, or replacement, or so. that the. cords maybe removed, leavingthe webs and. their cross strips secured in place for supporting theslats; which latter may be separately removed, one at av time for anydesired purpose;

Another object is to provide such an attachment device that is notdependent upon uncle:- pendable spring or hinge elements, that. includespositively acting opposing means for quick dc:- tachable securing of thedrop-banweb and elevator cord together and which requires no tools; forassembly or disassembly..

Another object is to provide. a: simple meansfor elevator cordattachment that not only eliminates the necessity of threading the cordend, but which also serves as a guard therefor.

: With the foregoing and other objects in View, the. invention residesin the combination of parts and details of construction hereinafter setforthv in,the" following specification. and appended claims, certain.embodiments thereofv being, ill-rustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which: I Figure l is a view in transverse section taken through thedrop bar, showing the cord retaining, housing partly in elevation andpartly in sec.- tion Figure 2 is a view in section taken along line 22of. Figure l;

Figure 3 is an exploded view in perspective: of the component parts ofthe attachment device; and.

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of a portion of the drop bar showingtheweb; and elevator cord secured to the bar by the attachment device,and

showing the retaining guard partially removed to" show the. elevatorcord end foldedi'n place.

Referring more particularly tothedrawings,.it isto be borne in mind thatI amaddressing myself to improvements in quick detachable means foradjustably securing the webs and elevator. cords to the drop bar of anotherwise conventional Venetian blind construction having a top cordoperated tilt bar, a pair, or more, of sets of parallel webs, of theladder type, secured to the top tilt bar and bottom drop bar, and havinga series of spaced cross strips to support a series of parallel slats,and also an elevator cord secured to-the drop bar and extending over atop pulley for manual control.

In the drawings are shown a dropbar I, an

elevator cord 2 and one pair of slat supporting webs 3 and 4. The dropbar is provided with a cylindrical hole 5 extending through its verticallength. The attachment device also includes a hollow frustro-conicalsleeve 6- and top'flange 9 of lesser outside diameter than cylindricalhole 5- and an integral plate I of considerably greater proportions thanhole 5. Plate! also has a central hole 8 to register with hole 5.Releasablysecured to plate 1 is a plastic cover I!) with a central holeII. The means of securing the plate and cover may comprise a pluralityof edge notches I2 in cover It] and a like number of.

malleable prongs ii; on the edges of plate? to Cover It has its baruntil its upper flange 9 extends beyond the top of bar I. The lowerend'portion of the elevator cord 2 is then laid in the open side groovel6 and folded over into the open. end groove :1 of plug. I5. The plug I5is then forced upwardly into hole 8 of sleeve 6. The depth of open;groove 16 is less than the diameter of the elevator cord so that thereis a snug engagement of the plug and cord with the sleeve 5 and thesurface of groove l6 may be roughened to assist the snugengagement ofthe cord. Thus, an: upward pull,

on the cord only serves to tighten this snug engagement and effectivelyguards against slippage of the cord.

The lower ends of the two. parallel; side webs are then placed tooverlap a desired portion of the under suriace; of the drop bar: I. Thenplate 1, with its cover 10, is forced upwardly so that its two sets ofside edge teeth I8 engage the corresponding webs 3 and 4. The next stepis to force a spring clip I9 so that its two legs 23 and 21 straddle thesleeve 6 under its top flange 9. This resiliently retains the assemblyin place and securely grips the web end to the drop bar. The clip [9 isprovided with an upturned end flange 22 for ease of hand engagement forinsertion and removal of the clip.

This leaves the bottom end of the elevator cord bare. The next step inthe final assembly is to lay the exposed folded end 2 of the cord 2 inthe bottom open groove I! of plug l5. Then, a spring clip 23, similar tospring clip I9, is placed in the slot M between the upper surface ofcover l and the lower surface of plate 1, as shown in Figure 4, in whichthe bottom end of plug l and the folded end 2' of cord 2 are shownexposed. The clip 23 is then pushed inwardly, or from right to left asviewed in Figure 4, which effects a, covering of the hole H of cover l0and also of the plug and the cord. The clip 23, like clip I9, isprovided with a flange 24 for convenience in manual handling.

As will readily be seen, the device is simple in construction andassembly. There is no threading of the cord involved, which, when thecord end becomes frayed or unraveled, could become very difficult andbothersome. The cord is merely laid sidewise in the side groove [6 ofplug [5 and when the plug is inserted in sleeve 6 an effective grippingof the cord against slippage is obtained. Pulling of the cord onlytightens the grip. The effective length of the cord is determined by theamount of overlap 2 and the removable clip 24 protects it againstdamage. As the engagement of plug I5 in sleeve 6 locks the cord, theengagement of spring clip is under flange 9 of sleeve 6 looks the websin place. The amount of overlap of the web edges under the drop bar tobe engaged by teeth 18 of plate 7 determines the effective length of thewebs. Thus the degree of adjustment of the webs is unlimited. Theessential locking elements consist in the plug and its engagement withsleeve 6 to lock the cord and the engagement of clip [9 with flange 9 ofsleeve 6 to bring the teeth of plate I into engagement with the webs tolock them.

The locking action involves no spring hinges nor threading of the cord.Disassembly is just as simple. It is only necessary to remove clip I9 toremove the webs and it is only necessary to remove clip 23 to gainaccess to the cord end 2'. A slight pull on the lower folded end portion2 of the elevator cord causes the plug to dropout of sleeve 6 so thatthe elevator cord is no longer gripped. This gives access to the removalof the elevator cord and the slats,

through which slats the elevator cords normally extend when the Venetianblind is assembled. As a further refinement, the bottom groove El andits side edges may be provided with a radius extending upwardly from thebottom edge away from the edge along the groove 16. The purpose of thisradius is to accommodate frayed ends of the elevator cords so as topermit clip 23 to slide over it to cover it.

It will be seen that no tools are required for assembly or disassembly.Convenient hand manipulation of clips 19 and 23 by their flanges 2'2 and24 is all that is required.

' I claim:

.1. In a Venetian blindof the type having an upper tilt bar, a bottomdrop bar, slats and ladder type parallel supporting webs therefor, atilt cord and an elevator cord, the combination of a quick detachablemeans for adjustably securing said elevator cord to said drop bar, saidmeans comprising a hollow sleeve extending through a vertical aperturein said drop bar, said sleeve having a relatively large bottom plate toengage said drop bar and a top flange insertable through said aperture,a slidable clip for engaging said top flange to secure said sleeve tosaid drop bar, a wedge plug insertable in said hollow sleeve and havingan open side groove to flatwise receive a desired length of saidelevator cord.

2. In a Venetian blind of the type having an upper tilt bar, a bottomdrop bar, slats and ladder type parallel supporting webs therefor, atilt cord and an elevator cord, the combinationofa quick detachablemeans for adjustably securing said elevator cord to said drop bar, saidmeans comprising a hollow sleeve extendable through a vertical aperturein said drop bar, said sleeve having a relatively large bottom plate toengage said drop bar and a top flange insertable through said aperture,2. slidable clip for engaging said top flange to secure said sleeve tosaid drop bar, a wedge plug insertable in said hollow sleeve and havingan open side groove to flatwise receive a desired length of saidelevator cord, said wedge plug having an open bottom groove to receivethe folded over end portion of said elevator cord.

3. In a Venetian blind of the type having an upper tilt bar, a bottomdrop bar, slats and ladder type parallel supporting webs therefor, atilt cord and an elevator cord, the combination of a quick detachablemeans for adjustably securing said elevator cord to said drop bar, saidmeans comprising a hollow sleeve extendable through a vertical aperturein said drop bar, said sleeve having a relatively large bottom plate toengage said drop bar and a top flange insertable through a clip slidablymounted in said bottom plate for engaging and concealing the bottom endportion of said elevator cord.

4. In a Venetian blind of the type havin an upper tilt bar, a bottomdrop bar, slats and ladder type parallel supporting webs therefor, atilt cord and an elevator cord, the combination of a quick detachablemeans for adjustably securing said webs to said drop bar, said meanscomprising a hollow sleeve extendable through a vertical aperture insaid drop bar, said sleeve having a relatively large bottom plate toengage said drop barand a top flange insertable through said aperture, aslidable clip for engaging said top flange to secure said sleeve to saiddrop bar, said bottom plate having upper edge teeth for grippingadjustable lengths of said parallel webs to grip the webs against theunder surface of said drop bar between the positive action of saidbottom plate and the engagement of said top clip with the top flange ofsaid sleeve above the upper surface of said drop bar.

5. In a Venetian blind of the type having an upper tilt bar, a bottomdrop bar, slats and ladder type parallel supporting webs therefor, atilt cord and an elevator cord, the combination of a quick detachablemeans for adjustably securing said elevator cord to said drop bar, aquick detachable means for adjustably securing said webs to said dropbar, said means comprising a hollow sleeve extendable through a verticalaperture in said drop bar, said sleeve having a relatively large bottomplate to engage said drop bar and a top flange insertable through saidaperture, a slidable clip for engagin said top flange to secure saidsleeve to said drop bar, said bottom plate having upper edge teeth forgripping adjustable lengths of said parallel webs to grip the websagainst the under surface of said drop bar between the positive actionof said bottom plate and the engagement of said top clip with the topflange of said sleeve above the upper surface of said drop bar.

6; In a Venetian blind of the type having an upper tilt bar, a bottomdrop bar, slats and ladder type parallel supporting webs therefor, atilt cord and an elevator cord, the combination of a quick detachablemeans for adjustably securing said elevator cord to said drop bar, aquick detachable means for adjustably securing said webs to said dropbar, said means comprising a hollow sleeve extendable through a verticalaperture in said drop bar, said sleeve having a relatively large bottomplate to engage said drop bar and a top flange insertable through saidaperture, a slidable clip for engaging said top flange to secure saidsleeve to said drop bar, a wedge plug insertable in said hollow sleeveand having an open side groove to flatwise receive a desired length ofsaid elevator cord, said bottom plate having upper edge teeth forgripping adjustable lengths of said parallel webs to grip the websagainst the under surface of said drop bar between the positive actionof said bottom plate and the engagement of said top clip with the topflange of said sleeve above the upper surface of said drop bar.

7. In a Venetian blind of the type having an upper tilt bar, a bottomdrop bar, slats and ladder type parallel supporting webs therefor, atilt cord and an elevator cord, the combination of a quick detachablemeans for adjustably securing said elevator cord, said wedge plug havingan open bottom groove to receive the folded over end portion of saidelevator cord, said bottom plate having upper edge teeth for grippingadjustable lengths of said parallel webs to grip the webs against theunder surface of said drop bar be tween the positive action of saidbottom plate and the engagement of said top clip with the top flange ofsaid sleeve above the upper surface of said drop bar.

8. In a Venetian blind of the type having an upper tilt bar, a bottomdrop bar, slats and ladder type parallel supporting webs therefor, atilt cord and an elevator cord, the combination of a quick detachablemeans for adjustably securing said elevator cord to said drop bar, aquick detachable means for adjustably securing said webs to said dropbar, said means comprising a hollow sleeve extendable through a verticalaperture in said drop bar, said sleeve having a relatively large bottomplate to engage said drop bar and a top flange insertable through saidaperture, a slidable clip for engaging said top flange to secure saidsleeve to said drop bar, a wedge plug insertable in said hollow sleeveand having an open side groove to flatwise receive a desired length ofsaid elevator cord, said wedge plug having an open bottom groove toreceive the folded over end portion of said elevator cord, a clipslidably mounted in said bottom plate for engaging and concealing thebottom end portion of said elevator cord, said bottom plate having upperteeth for gripping adjustable lengths of said parallel webs to grip thewebs against the under surface of said drop bar between the positiveaction of said bottom plate and the engagement of said top clip with thetop flange of said sleeve above the upper surface of said drop bar.

LOUIS J. ZNIDARSIC.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,178,339 Ocumpaugh Apr. 4, 19161,392,480 Clarke Oct. 4, 1921 1,950,317 Luneburg Mar. 6, 1934.-2,056,036 Catron et a1 Sept. 29, 1936 2,086,461 Bogan July 6, 1937FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 129,388 Switzerland -1 Dec. 1'7,1928

